By Alice Waugh
Selectmen from towns in the Minuteman High School district met last week to endorse a new regional agreement with a few minor changes—including adding language that would allow Lincoln to leave the district along with several other towns without having to pay for the new school project.
[Read more…] about Key votes on Minuteman slated for Monday night
To the editor:
Boston.com published a story on December 17 about the recent experiences of Muslim youth in the metro-Boston area, including the story of Amal Dirrane, who attends school in Lincoln. Dirrane shared her mixed experience, in our town, of both struggle and support in being identified as Muslim in the wake of the recent Paris and San Bernardino tragedies. Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Rebecca McFall subsequently sent out a letter to the community affirming our school district’s commitment to supporting cultural and religious differences. I commend Ms. Dirrane for courageously sharing her experience with us, and Superintendent McFall for her strong and unequivocal support of values that our town holds dear.
[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: Building interreligious understanding in Lincoln
Trees were recently cut down on Greenridge Lane (top) and at Lincoln Woods. Photos: Alice Waugh
By Alice Waugh
In scenes reminiscent of the controversy over the Route 2 tree-cutting in 2013, residents on Greenridge Lane and Lincoln Woods were surprised and unhappy when a number of mature trees near their homes were recently cut down.
[Read more…] about Tree-cutting dismays some South Lincoln residents
Editor’s note: Noah Eckhouse announced earlier today that he will not be running for reelection to the Board of Selectmen.
To the editor:
I am writing to announce my candidacy for the open seat on the Board of Selectman and to ask for your support. I am excited by the opportunity to bring my skills, experience and energy to the board as we face many important challenges as a town over the coming months and years.
For those of you who may not yet know me, I have lived in Lincoln with my family since 2004 and am the proud parent of a fifth-grade child in our public schools. Serving on the Planning Board since 2008 (five years as an elected member and two as an appointed associate member), I have had the privilege to work alongside many wonderful and dedicated volunteers on many different committees and boards, all of whom care deeply about our town. I believe this experience, combined with my professional background as an attorney in private practice with an emphasis in real estate law, will allow me to bring added value and perspective to our Board of Selectman, especially as the town considers significant land use issues and their affordability, including: a school building project, a multigenerational community center, and the feasibility/desire for future growth of Lincoln Station.
I am also excited at the chance to work with the board in continuing to engage our many nonprofits to share in the costs of the services the town provides, working to further strengthen our relationship with Hanscom and the Air Force, and collaborating with other boards and committees in addressing the many day to day issues facing our town.
Lincoln has a tradition rich in balancing conservation of our natural resources with necessary growth, all while exercising prudent fiscal discipline. An avid runner, I am reminded daily of how special and unique our town is, in large part due to the foresight and strategies implemented over the years by our town leaders. If elected, I look forward to working with the board and fellow Lincolnites to create and adopt the strategies that will continue our shared vision for Lincoln’s future.
Lastly, I would like to thank Noah Eckhouse for his many years of tireless and dedicated service to our town. Noah’s willingness six years ago to step forward and run for selectman at a time in his life when most of us would be otherwise wholly consumed with work and family has inspired me to do the same this coming year.
I look forward to meeting and hearing from you over the coming months, and hope you will consider supporting me at our town election in March.
Sincerely,
James Craig
Farrar Road
jameslaw33@comcast.net
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.
Celebrate the winter solstice at the Lincoln Public Library on Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 4:30 p.m. by decorating a paper lantern and taking part in a twinkle light parade around the library. For all ages. Advance signup required; call 781-259-8465.
Last year’s First Day at the Pierce House.
Whether you’re new to Lincoln or have lived here forever, come to the Pierce House on Friday, Jan. 1 from 1-5 p.m. to celebrate the New Year together at the town’s 17th annual First Day gathering. Start the year right with legendary soups, live music, congenial company, and a magician for kids. Complimentary admission for Lincoln residents, but donations are gratefully accepted for the upkeep of this special town resource. With support from the Lincoln Celebration Committee.
The 2016 Open Spaces calendar with photographs taken in Lincoln is now on sale. This is the fourth year that the calendar has been designed by Lincoln residentLindsay Clemens. It’s a chance to look at our lands through other people’s eyes and to see what moments strike them.
Calendars can be purchased at the Lincoln Public Library, Cambridge Trust, Old Town Hall Exchange, Something Special, the Shop at Drumlin Farm, and in the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT) above the post office in the mall. Membership discount is available in LLCT offices only. The LLCT will also sell the calendar and other publications in front of Donelan’s on Saturday, Dec. 19 from 9 a.m. to noon. Proceeds support the LLCT.
Jane Mostue, daughter of Brooks and Patty Mostue of Lincoln, and J. Daniel McGeeney, son of Mr. and Mrs. John McGeeney of Louisville, Ky., were married on July 18 at St. Joseph’s Church in Lincoln with a reception at Pierce House. Rev. George Evans celebrated the Nuptial Mass. Jane and Daniel met at Amherst College, from which they both graduated. They now live in Louisville, where Jane works as a case worker at Home of the Innocents and Daniel teachers international baccalaureate physics at Sacred Heart School.
By Alice Waugh
Faced with the prospect of increased costs for Lincoln students at Minuteman High School and the uncertainty about host community compensation, the Capital Planning Committee openly wondered about the possibility of having Lincoln withdraw from the Minuteman regional school district.
To the editor:
I write to announce that I will not be seeking reelection as selectman when my term expires in March. After serving on the board for the past six years, twice as chairman, I am ready to step back and encourage another generation of leaders to take my seat at the selectman’s table.
The last six years has been a blur of success, challenge and difficult compromise. We accomplished many things: the complete renewal of our Town Office Building, rebuilding our roads and streetlights, liquor licenses, conservation of important parcels, and healthy relationships with our town employees and their unions. We created the town’s first PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement, with more on the way. We saw the regional effects of traffic, construction, dog walkers and even murders encroach our little town and force us to respond as a team. And we never once asked for an override.
Rest assured Lincoln is in good hands. From our eminently capable town staff led by Tim Higgins to our committed volunteers on countless boards and committees, Lincoln has a passion for governance “by the people and for the people” like few other places in these cynical times.
As for me, I will enjoy my return to civilian life watching my two children complete their studies at L-S (while still clinging to hope that I can run faster than them in the Fourth of July road race), supporting STEM education in our K-12 schools, and helping to grow our L-S varsity sailing program into a dominant force. And building a few less parade floats…
In closing, I’d like to thank my predecessor Sarah Cannon Holden for helping me ramp up, Gary Taylor and Sara Mattes for tolerating me as a young pup, and Peter Braun and Renel Fredriksen for many years of co-leadership teamwork. Of course my family deserves the biggest thanks for putting up with distractions, phone calls and evening meetings, and general immersion in all things local. (Catherine: it will soon be safe to go with me to the dump and Donelan’s again!)
Lincoln needs all of us as active volunteers. The job can be demanding at times but creates a sense of accomplishment and reward that is unlike anything else I’ve done. I encourage our next generations of leaders to step up. If not you, who?
Sincerely,
Noah Eckhouse
Baker Bridge Road
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.
Blacky and Snowy
To the editor:
We may not see a white Christmas this year, but Mary’s two cats, Snowy and her Blacky, could use a holiday miracle while their “mom” waits for cat-friendly housing.
[Read more…] about Letter to the editor: two cats need a hand over the holidays
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect a clarification of Lincoln’s Minuteman spending in 2015-16.
By Alice Waugh
Area officials have hammered out a newly revised Minuteman High School regional agreement by stripping out the contentious “host community” compensation issue and making it the subject of a separate agreement between the town and the Minuteman school district—but both deals must still be approved by the Minuteman School Committee (MSC). [Read more…] about A breakthrough and a hiccup for Minuteman
In the December 13 article about Minuteman High School, an incorrect date was given for the Capital Planning Committee meeting about the high school. The committee will meet on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Office Building.